Kindiki: Haiti, here we come

Interior CS Kithure Kindiki (right) flanked Police IG Japheth Koome before the Department Committee on Administration and National Security. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi will lead another government delegation to Haiti next week, ahead of the deployment of Kenyan police officers to quell the armed gangs in the Carrebian country.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki made the revelation before a  Parliamentary Committee on Security on Thursday, October 12. 

The CS said that the first batch of government officials that had been deployed for recce in Haiti have returned but are yet to make their findings public.

"Yes, I can confirm that the first team is back and has already forwarded its findings and we are reflecting on the viability and success of the peacekeeping mission in Haiti," said Kindiki. 

Mudavadi's team, once sent will be tasked with assessing the legal and diplomatic status. 

"We had already dispatched an assessment team to Haiti; the representatives were picked from the Foreign Affairs office, various security departments, and other stakeholders," Kindiki stated.

The Interior CS reiterated that the Haiti peace support mission will not cost the Kenyan government anything, adding that the full expenditure will be catered for by the United Nations Security Council.

According to Kindiki, the diplomatic and legal issues have to precede the deployment of police to Haiti, and the mission is expected to last one year only.